2018: 115th Congress 94%

The passage of this CRA would do nothing to change the prohibition against discrimination in the Equal Credit Opportunity Act that the guidance cites. It would simply roll back the gross regulatory overreach of the CFPB in claiming for itself -- behind closed doors and a screen of smoke -- a power that Congress, in the law that created the CFPB, explicitly banned the CFPB from having. As Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) said prior to the Senate vote, the CFPB “had to work its magic to find a way to regulate auto dealers.” Good governing is done through accountable and transparent processes, not magic.

Sponsored by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) and a group of nine other bipartisan legislators, this amendment reforms U.S. sugar policy. Raw sugar in the U.S. currently costs 84 percent more than it does on the world market. This is because of almost Soviet levels of government controls placed on the domestic sugar market that limits imports and production. This increases prices on consumers and makes it difficult for candy companies to maintain operations in America. The sugar modernization amendment is a long overdue reversal of this disturbing, protectionist trend.

Sponsored by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), and Jared Polis (D-Colo.), this amendment prevents federal officials from interfering with the sales and transportation of unpasteurized milk across state lines. This ensures that nothing will get in the way of people who want fresh, unpasteurized milk, and those farmers who want to sell it to them.

"Yea" votes scored.

11: On Agreeing to the Amendment: Banks WOTUS Repeal to the Farm Bill, H.R. 2✔ Yea

Sponsored by Reps. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), and a coalition of over a dozen other lawmakers, this amendment repeals the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Water Rule, which loosely defines “waters of the United States.” This rule violated private citizens’ property rights by giving the EPA authority to regulate waterways as small as a ditch in someone’s backyard. Repeal of this rule would be a victory for individual liberty.

"Yea" votes scored.

12: On Passage: Trickett Wendler Right to Try Act, S. 204✔ Yea

Key Vote 12: On Passage: Trickett Wendler Right to Try Act, S. 204

This bill would allow terminally ill patients to have access to potentially life-saving drugs when no other alternatives exist. It would ensure Americans, currently hampered by the bureaucracy of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), have the most fundamental right of all: to fight to save their own lives.

"Yea" votes scored.

13: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass: FIRST STEP Act, H.R. 5682✔ Yea

Key Vote 13: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass: FIRST STEP Act, H.R. 5682

The FIRST STEP Act would provide a modest incentive structure to eligible prisoners to earn time credits for successfully completing this programming and showing concrete progress toward reducing their risk of recidivism. Prison reform, and criminal justice reform more broadly, have been tried and proven effective at the state level since the “war on drugs” laws of the 1990s have proven ineffective. The lower recidivism rates resulting from these policies enhance public safety, while simultaneously saving taxpayer dollars and returning dignity and sense of worth to all Americans. This movement has been largely led by traditionally conservative states with similarly conservative governors, such as Texas, Georgia, and South Carolina and in more recent years Oklahoma, Missouri, and Kentucky. The FIRST STEP Act brings many of these reforms to the federal level with the goal of reducing recidivism and enhancing public safety.

The bill would provide targeted relief in the banking industry from onerous regulatory overreach into the financial sector created by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, commonly known as “Dodd-Frank.” Having passed the Senate already, passage in the House would send the bill directly to President Trump’s desk to provide regulatory relief from this onerous law, affecting millions of Americans.

Approving this initial $15 billion rescissions request in full -- pulling back funds sitting in useless accounts that can only otherwise be used to spend more in the future -- is a task that conservatives in Congress should wholeheartedly endorse. It is one of few opportunities to exercise any semblance of fiscal discipline. It is only one small step towards actually tackling Washington’s out-of-control spending addiction, but it represents a chance to begin this fight.

"Yea" votes scored.

16: On Agreeing to the Norman Amendment to H.R. 5895✔ Yea

Key Vote 16: On Agreeing to the Norman Amendment to H.R. 5895

Sponsored by Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), this amendment would reduce the total amount of appropriations made available by $1.5 billion to match the fiscal year 2018 enacted level. Increasingly high spending levels appropriated by Congress year after year have buried our country in unsustainable debt. This amendment would realize the fact that our country needs to spend less and certainly cannot afford to spend any more than it did in fiscal year 2018.

"Yea" votes scored.

17: Signers to the Discharge Petition for H.Res. 873✔ Nay

Key Vote 17: Signers to the Discharge Petition for H.Res. 873

If passed, this petition would pave the way for the return of the Obama administration’s heavy-handed Internet regulations, which were overturned by the Restoring Internet Freedom Order. FreedomWorks will key vote the signers of this petition, treating signatures as an anti-freedom position for the purposes of our 2018 Congressional Scorecard.

"Nay" votes scored. Double Score

18: On Agreeing to the Mullin-Perry Amendment to H.R. 6147✔ Yea

Key Vote 18: On Agreeing to the Mullin-Perry Amendment to H.R. 6147

Sponsored by Reps. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) and Scott Perry (R-Pa.), this amendment would prohibit the use of funding for the enforcement of the EPA’s Methane Rule. The EPA estimates the annual cost of the Methane Rule at $520 million.

"Yea" votes scored.

19: On Agreeing to the Hice Amendment to H.R. 6147✔ Yea

Key Vote 19: On Agreeing to the Hice Amendment to H.R. 6147

Sponsored by Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.), this amendment would ensure that no funds would be available to the Environmental Justice Small Grants made by the Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ). These funds have been misused to fund projects that should be left to state and local leadership, and that are unrelated to the organization’s mission. If enacted, the Hice amendment will save taxpayers $70 million over the next ten years.

"Yea" votes scored.

20: On Agreeing to the Palmer-Walker-Meadows Amendment to H.R. 6147✔ Yea

Key Vote 20: On Agreeing to the Palmer-Walker-Meadows Amendment to H.R. 6147

Sponsored by Reps. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.), Mark Walker (R-N.C.), and Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), this amendment would prohibit the use of funds from being used to implement the District of Columbia's recently passed Health Insurance Requirement Amendment Act.

"Yea" votes scored.

21: On Agreeing to the Meadows Amendment to H.R. 6147✔ Yea

Key Vote 21: On Agreeing to the Meadows Amendment to H.R. 6147

Sponsored by Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), this amendment would prohibit the use of funds to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) from being used to administer ObamaCare’s Multi-State Plan (MSP) Program. Section 1334 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires that OPM contract at least two national health insurance plans, one of which is statutorily required to be contracted with a nonprofit entity. The MSP Program was included in ObamaCare when the so-called “public option” proved politically untenable. The MSP Program could be used as a vehicle for a public option.

"Yea" votes scored.

22: On Agreeing to the Anti-Carbon Tax Resolution✔ Yea

Key Vote 22: On Agreeing to the Anti-Carbon Tax Resolution

Carbon taxes, like all government interventions in the economy, reward certain individuals and industries at the expense of everyone else. Independent studies into the potential impact of such a tax reveal that American families would have to pay higher electricity and fuel costs, and could lead to higher prices in other areas of the economy. This burden would be borne disproportionately by lower and middle income families, those who can least afford to do so.

"Yea" votes scored.

23: On Agreeing to the Conference Report to H.R. 6157✘ Yea

Key Vote 23: On Agreeing to the Conference Report to H.R. 6157

The Defense, Labor, and Health and Human Services (HHS) minibus, H.R. 6157 spends profligately on programs included in the minibus and includes a short-term continuing resolution (CR) for remaining appropriations bills into fiscal year 2019. This CR is an extension of the excessive spending agreed to under the Bipartisan Budget Act, which was passed by Congress in February and spent nearly $300 billion more than the previously established spending caps meant to control the rate of spending growth. H.R. 6157 is more of the same profligate spending resulting from a broken budget process and members unwilling to stand up for their campaign promises of shrinking government and reducing spending.